I hear all these horror stories about the virus being bad in Europe now. Record numbers.
How can their hockey leagues be open for business, even on a limited basis, and no leagues in US or Canada open?
I have the same questions about college football and the NFL versus the NHL.
Somebody is wrong. Who?
Most of their teams are getting wiped out though at some point, and they are just choosing to ride that out when it invariably happens. Askarov and Tolvanen already got Covid, right? And they just call up 10 players and ride it out when it happens. Hopefully nobody ends up with a long-term case, but they seem to be more ok with taking that chance at the player level, in general.
NHL has a somewhat more progressive HQ, I feel, but even still if it wasn't for the gate/finances side of things, maybe they'd just push through too? Anyway, at least with these hundreds of cases in European pro hockey, there is going to be a pretty good database of just what the risks really are in terms of longer term complications.
And then once the vaccine is available, obviously the pro athletes will be front of the line, so I can see them reaching the point where they immunize players and then start games, with more of a phased-in attendance policy.